![The cross country team poses for the camera after finishing the district meet. The varsity boys, JV boys and JV girls all placed third and the varsity girls placed fourth. “Coach put in the right training for us for this season, so I think we will be peaking this week and the next couple of weeks,” varsity runner and junior Nathan Kukla said. “The chances of making it to state are very high, but we don’t settle for the lowest and there is always going to be that chance, so [we] race for the best.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Heidi-831-1200x900.jpg)
![Sucking in a breath of air, freshman Lily Pope competes in the 200 yard individual medley. On Oct. 25, the swim team competed in the AISD Swim Invitational. Overall, the girls team took second place and the boys team came in eleventh. “My favorite stroke is butterfly because I do the best in that stroke,” Pope said. “I feel like [butterfly] can test how [your ability] to convince yourself to keep going. The hardest part of swimming is convincing yourself to stay strong and keep pushing during a hard race [when] everything is tired.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/POPE-1200x804.jpg)
![Smiling at the camera, Author Ehigbor Okosun, members of Page Turners, and other students reflect on the author's visit. “I thought the visit was great,” Senior Amia De Leon said. “It was interesting talking to her and [getting to know] her process and her thoughts and books in general. But I think the reason it went well [was that] people got to ask questions. I'm glad that she said so much in response to the questions and it wasn't just one and done. [The author’s responses] felt very articulate.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Sebastian-5-1200x800.jpg)
![Standing in front of the field at a freshman football game, cheerleader freshman Jacob Gaudreau along with teammate freshman Bella Gibson pose for a photo during halftime of game. “[Cheer has] definitely given me a much more outgoing personality,” Gaudreau said. “I used to be very introverted, so it's definitely made me more extroverted towards people.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Ingrid-204-1200x800.jpg)
![Holding a wooden pizza toy, senior Taylor Peterson plays with small children in Bucaramanga, Colombia. During the summer, Peterson traveled to Colombia to help build an elementary school that only had two classrooms but five or six grades with one teacher. “We add[ed] two more classrooms,” Peterson said. “It’s kind of hard when you have two or three grades in one classroom and you only have one teacher. It’s very hard to actually get some beneficial learning. [The extra classrooms will give the students] a better quality of education because they’ll actually have a place specific for their learning.” Photo by Taylor Peterson](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Taylor-P.png)
![Swinging with his arm extended, senior Nolan Park hits the ball smoothly over the net and to the opponent’s side. Park is one of four varsity tennis captains and helped the team win district championships. “Winning district champs was a pretty awesome feeling,” Park said. “We had lost to Liberty Hill a couple of weeks before, but when we played them [again], we came out and really took care of business. We took them out and it was just a really awesome night.”](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Kassidy-419.jpg)
![Standing proud, varsity senior athletes Rafael Escobar, Griffin Jacobs, Jakob Martin, and juniors Jackson Springer and Jack Morris pose with their newly earned medals. The varsity team finished third out of 14 teams on Sept. 25. “The team's primary goal is to win the district championship,” head coach Cody Price said. "We're confident that with our action plan in place, we can accomplish this mission. [For the next tournament], our preparation involves assessing our strengths and weaknesses, celebrating milestones and creating individual development plans." Photo courtesy of Cody Price](https://cphswolfpack.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/golf.jpg)
Fields to Labs
Senior Leaves Soccer Fields Behind to Start a New Path of Becoming an Anesthesiologist
Getting ready to pass the ball, senior Michael Ernand plays at the UT fields for preseason, against Hutton. Ernand said he will be attending Texas A&M University in the fall to start on a new path. “Even though soccer has been all that I’ve grown to know, I feel confident in my new future (becoming an anesthesiologist),” Ernand said.
May 28, 2020
After six years of playing soccer with his eyes on a literal goal, senior Michael Ernand is turning his sights on a new goal. With college fast approaching, Ernand has decided to turn over a new leaf and achieve his real dream- to become a doctor.
Captain of the varsity CPHS soccer team, Ernand has been a part of the team all of high school, including this year, when he received the honor of Second Team All District and an Honorable Mention.
“It felt great to be able to hold that much responsibility as captain and to be there for everyone I’ve grown to know so well,” Ernand said. “When things got hard, I was able to push myself and my teammates to do their absolute best. I’m really going to miss it.”
Ernand will not continue soccer in college, but said he will use leadership skills he learned playing the sport to help him in his future career.
“I want to save lives, I like helping people,” Ernand said. “Whether it’s during a game, or when I was team captain, soccer has shown me that I am someone people can depend on.”
Ernand will be attending Texas A&M in the fall and will major in Biology. Once he graduates, he then plans to go to med school, where he wants to specialize in anesthesia to become an anesthesiologist.
“As an anesthesiologist, I will be able to be in control of the process of surgery in the operating room,” Ernand said. “The entire process depends on my communication and focus, something I’ve already had practice from being a captain in soccer.”
Besides soccer, Ernand had also taken classes to help introduce him to the medical field, such as AP biology.
“In AP Biology this year, I realized I wanted to major in biology in college,” Ernand said. “From the labs we did and what Mr. Babich had lectures on, I had a lot of fun and definitely saw myself doing this in the future. It felt right.”
It will take at least 12 years of studying and learning for Ernand to achieve the job he wants. Ernand said at first he was discouraged by this, but realized he couldn’t imagine spending those years doing something else.
“Choosing to end my soccer career was hard,” Ernand said. “I had offers from several colleges. Soccer taught me many life lessons I wouldn’t be able to learn in a book, or from possibly anything else. I’m beyond thankful for it and my team and coaches at CP.”
